I’m not sure how to say this without being blasted, but I’ll try: I might understand a little piece affecting Rachal Dolezal decision to present as black rather than be a white ally. I just have one story. It was about ten years ago. I had just finished reading The
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A Puff of Absurdity: OITNB
I read some review somewhere of the first episode of Orange is the New Black on the weekend before I dove into a marathon session of the entire season. It suggested that the reason people like the show is because it actually shows real relationships between real women. The context
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Free Speech and Safe Spaces
Pathologizing disagreement is an intellectually dishonest way to cope with challenging arguments. It certainly doesn’t support critical thinking. It also creates a culture wherein people are afraid to express dissenting opinions or question the party line….It’s okay to disagree, but not to frame differences of opinion as abuse. Meghan Murphy
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Restricting Free Speech
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” – Evelyn Beatrice Hall I’m not so sure I agree with Ms. Hall’s famously misattributed line. People say some truly cruel things, and I’m not convinced we should have a right to
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: It’ll Be Fast: On Yes Means Yes
Globe and Mail. I was struck by the report of an intimate exchange between a man and woman in today’s Globe & Mail; the woman later questioned how consensual the act really was. She said, “Please stop,” and he responded, “It’ll be fast.” Later she says “yes,” then later again “no.”
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Diamond’s Collapse
A while back, Mound suggested I read Collapse by Jared Diamond, and I finally got to it. It’s a fascinating read particularly for anyone interested in ancient civilizations. Diamond explores what caused the destruction of various civilizations over the past couple millennia. What interested me, of course, is his final
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Mesothelioma: Dying to be Heard
Today isn’t just Groundhog’s Day, it’s “Lung Leavin’ Day” – a commemorative day sparked by Heather Von St. James who had her lung removed eight years ago today due to mesothelioma. Check out the ritual she cultivated on her website and an interview with her here. This is a very specific
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Further to York University’s Discrimination Issues…
If you haven’t heard, a York University prof denied a student’s request to work in all male groups for religious reasons. York’s Centre for Human Rights suggested the student should be granted the request to avoid being with women in public. I commented with my views here: I see
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: The Tao of Environmentalism
At Politics Respun, Stephen Elliott-Buckley suggests we make decarbonizing our New Year’s resolution. In a fit of frustration, I commented thusly: What does it look like to join you? I mean I’m totally in, but what do I do to “seriously begin to decarbonize”? How to stop this? I already
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On John Stuart Mill, Free Speech, and Climate Change
I got caught up in a few arguments about climate change recently that just reinforced to me, that there’s still such a strong bashlash against the entire idea that we’re unlikely to move forward quickly enough to be effective. Paper is trees! My school board is fundraising for the Philippines,
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: A Little Hope is Effective…
A lot of hope is dangerous. – President Snow This may be a little hokey, but I think Catching Fire is an important film to see right now. And it’s awesome! I read the books ages ago, but even though I know how they each end, it didn’t stop me
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Paternity Rights in Rape Cases
It’s an interesting moral dilemma to have a judge decide a child has access to a father when the only contact the mother and father had was a sexual assault producing this child. This isn’t entirely the story here. In this article, it could be a case of statutory rape.
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Raising the Minimum Wage
So, the argument goes something like this: If you raise minimum wage, corporations will pay for that cost by raising prices, thereby increasing inflation, and we’ll all be poorer for it as everything gets more expensive. The problem isn’t wages, but inflation. Therefore, we should not increase minimum wage. It
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Sammy Yatim: When is a Cop Justified in Using Fatal Force?
There’s a “justification” piece in the National Post on behalf of the cop who shot Sammy Yatim. It doesn’t offer much to go on beyond that we shouldn’t trust a brief video to tell the whole story. But I asked a cop what he thought of the situation, and he gave
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